The Last Snow
by TheClownPrincessOfCrime
Summary: Upon the arrival of the first snow of the season, Sophie is ecstatic...until Angelica convinces the babies that the first snow will be the last snow.


***disclaimer (boy, do I get tired of saying this all the time)**

**I don't own Rugrats or any of the characters except Sophie, who was introduced in my "Meet the Bennetts" fanfic.**

**Please review if you like it! Thank you!**

* * *

As the sun slowly crept up over the horizon, a tiny bird flew around Tommy's window bedroom, chirping happily. The babies were having a sleepover at the Pickles' house, as they most often did. Tommy, Chuckie, and Phil were sleeping in Tommy's bed, and Kimi, Lil and Sophie were asleep in Sophie's crib. Dil yawned and giggled as the bird's chirping woke him. He started banging his rattle loudly on the bars of his crib. Since he was awake, he assumed the other babies should wake, too. Dil's noises worked, as Sophie yawned slowly and rubbed her eyes. She grabbed her stuffed rabbit, Sprinkles, and sat up, sleepily.

Dil giggled loudly and clapped his hands. "Soapy! Soapy!" he said happily.

Sophie yawned again with a small smile. "Good morning, Dilly," she whispered quietly. Sophie didn't want to wake her friends because the sun hadn't fully risen, yet. She yawned once more and climbed over Kimi, who was still sleeping beside her, tightly clutching Superthing, her favorite toy. Sophie unlatched her crib hook, letting the siding fall down. She climbed down from the crib, rubbing her eyes once more. She still wasn't fully awake yet, thanks to Dil's early awakening. When Sophie looked out the window, she gasped loudly, dropping Sprinkles onto the ground. "Oh, my _goodness_!" She put her hands on her cheeks in shock. She grabbed Sprinkles off of the floor and ran to Tommy's bed. "Tommy! Tommy! Wake up, wake up!"

Tommy, Chuckie and Phil yawned as Sophie stood on the bed, urgently.

"Uh, what's the matter, Sophie?" Tommy asked, sleepily sitting up.

"Sophieeeee, it's still almost dark outside!" Phil grumled, as Kimi and Lil slowly woke up as well. "Why'd you wake up us so early?"

"Oh, my goodness, it's just so _terrible_, you guys!" Sophie gasped, breathlessly.

"What's terrible, Sophie?" Kimi gasped, crawling out of the crib in a rush. "Are you okay?"

"No, I'm _not_ okay, and neither are the rest of you guyses! _Look_!" Sophie grabbed Kimi's hand, pulling her back to the crib. They climbed up togther, and Sophie pointed out the window as the others clambered up also. They all gasped at what they saw. Now, they knew why Sophie had been so jumpy.

"Do ya see, you guys?" Sophie said, her eyes wide. "Somebody did something bad to the outside!"

Tommy giggled, loudly. "Aw, Don't worry, Sophie. That's just snow!"

"Snow?" Sophie repeated, putting her finger to her lip. "Oh...so _that's_ what snow, is?"

"You never sawed snow 'afore?" Lil asked with a gasp. The very idea was foreign to her and the rest of the babies.

Sophie shook her head. "Nope, we don't gots snow in Australia. It's too hot and….hot. We gots lots of beaches, though! I used to go there with my mummy and daddy all the time!" This prived to be true, seeing as Sophie had a nice golden tan and honey blonde hair from being at the beach so often with her parents. But snow...this was something completely new to her. Sure, she'd seen picture books and movies about snow, but she'd never actually seen it for herself.

"Come on, let's go downstairs, you guys!" Tommy cried. "I'll bet ya my mommy and daddy are awake, too!"

The babies rushed away, completely excited. Sophie, on the other hand, bit her lip nervously as she glanced out the window. Dil giggled and gurgled from his crib. Sophie smiled a little at her baby cousin, sighing a bit. "I dunno about this, Dilly!" She took one last glance outside before running to join her friends.

Downstairs, Didi and Stu were dressed and sitting at the table drinking coffee. Upon waking up to the freshly fallen snow, they both knew they had to be ready for when the babies realized it, too.

"Hey, look who's awake," Stu said, chuckling. "So, what do you guys think about the weather outside? Pretty neat, huh?"

"I bet the kids can't _wait_ to get outside in the snow," Didi said. "Come on, Stu. Let's get their snow clothes ready for them. Then we'll eat breakfast and take them out!"

As they walked away, Sophie gasped, loudly, putting her hands to her cheeks, again. Her signature move. "Oh, my goodness, we don't gots to go _outside_, do we?"

"Yeah! It's lots of fun in the snow," Chuckie said. "You can makes snowballs, and a snowman, and a snow angel, and a snow doggie, and snow kitty, and a snow birdie, and-"

"And the grown-ups dressies us up so snuggly and warm, that sometimes you can't even walks right!" Phil said, giggling, as he and Lil demonstrated walking like two puffed-up snowpeople.

Sophie furrowed her eyebrows and frowned. "But, I _likes_ walking right."

"Don't worry, Sophie. We'll show you how to have lots of fun with the snows!" said Kimi, giggling. "We gots lots of essperience!"

Sophie frowned again, more so as Didi and Stu returned with the mounds of snow clothes.

She was still frowning as she stood in the middle of the snow covered yard, dressed in her dark blue snow pants, light pink jacket, and thick jester-type snow hat with three dangling balls hanging from the top. She wiggled her fingers inside her dark blue and white striped mittens. She tried to take a step forward, but tripped on her matching blue and white scarf, and toppled to the ground, face first into the snow.

Tommy and Kimi rushed over to her. "Are you okay, Sophie?" Tommy asked, as they helped her up.

Phil and Lil were thoroughly enjoying eating as much snow as they could, although they were shivering from the aftermath of it.

Sophie grunted a little. "I can't moves at all, you guys! Aunt Didi wrapped me up tighter than a Hanukkuh present! is it 'apposed to be like this?"

Kimi giggled and ran off to join Phil and Lil. Tommy laughed as he watched his cousin try to walk, without much success. "Aw, don't worry, Sophie. You'll get used to it, I promise!"

Phil and Lil rushed by, throwing snowballs at each other and at Kimi. Chuckie was making a snow pile, his tongue sticking out as he concentrated.

Sophie frowned at the snow. "I'm not sure I likes the snow, Tommy. I don't think I'll ever be a snow baby like you guys are."

Kimi had eaten a few handfuls of snow and had wandered back over to Tommy and Sophie, hoping to help her out any way she could.

Tommy picked up a handful of snow and began to form it into a neat little ball. "Here you go, Sophie. You can take this snowball and throw it as hard as you can at that tree over there."

Sophie carefully took the snowball from Tommy. She looked from the ball to Tommy and Kimi, worriedly. "I gotta throw it at the tree? But, the tree didn't do anything to me! He might cry. I don't wanna make him cry."

"Come on, Sophie! The tree's not gonna be sad! Just throw it as hard as you can," Kimi said.

Upon seeing both Tommy and Kimi's enthusiastic faces, Sophie broke into a small smile and threw the snowball as hard as she could towards the tree. Unfortunately, Sophie missed the tree and hit Chuckie right on the top of his head. Sophie gasped loudly and was close to bursting into tears. Tommy and Kimi on the other hand, burst into giggles.

"Oh, Chuckie! I'm so sorry!" Sophie cried. "I'm so sorry!"

Chuckie was startled for a minute, then giggled, also. "Hey, it's okay, Sophie! Getting hit with snowballs is fun!"

Sophie put her finger to her lip, confused. "It is?"

Chuckie giggled again. "Yep, it is! And the bestest part about throwin' snowballs is..." Chuckie grinned and scooped up a handful of his own. "Once you throws one, you gotta throw lots more!" With that, he threw a snowball back at Sophie, who giggled and ducked out of its way.

"Snowball fight!" yelled Phil and Lil, rushing over to them, their hands already filled with tiny snowballs.

The babies all laughed and threw snowballs at each other, running, dodging, and having a great time. Sophie couldn't believe how much fun the snow could be. She was never able to make sandballs when she went to the beach. In reality, she would have never thought of such an idea before, seeing as she thought it would have been a mean thing to do. But throwing snowballs didn't hurt anybody, and it was turning into one of her favorite games ever.

Sophie brushed the snow off of her jacket once they had run out of energy of their snowball fight. The rest of the babies were completely tired, and had layed down on their backs, breathing heavily and unable to move. Sophie had much more energy than the rest of them, and she was ready for more snow fun. "Oh, that was _so_ much fun, you guys!" She took a step forward, and was silent. She took another step, then another. Suddenly she gasped loudly. "Oh, I loves the crunchy sound when I moves my feets!" She started bouncing around, giggling as the snow made crunching noises from under her pink snow boots. "Crunchy, crunchy, crunhy!"

As Sophie bounced around, Chuckie turned to Tommy. "Wow, Tommy. Your cousin sure gots lots of snow energies."

"I wish she'd share some it!" said Phil, as he and Lil giggled.

Suddenly, it began to snow lightly all around them. Sophie stopped jumping, and gasped, loudly. "Oh, my goodness! The sky's falling!" She dove towards the other babies and covered her head with her hands. She squinted her eyes shut, nervously.

Kimi giggled. "No, Sophie. The sky's not falling!"

"It's snowing!" Chuckie said. "That's how the snow gets on the floor!"

Sophie opened one eye, carefully. "Really?"

"Yeah! Look!" Tommy said, pointing to the sky. "The snow clouds decide it's time for snow, so they make the snow come out!"

Sophie uncovered her head and looked up at the sky. She giggled as the snow fell into her eyes. She wiped the water from her eyes, then gasped loudly. She saw the tiny flakes that landed on her outstretched hand. They were the most beautiful "Oh my goodness! Lookie, you guys! _Stars_!" Sophie marveled at the beautiful shapes of the snowflakes on her mitten. "Oh," she breathed, almost unable to believe it, "these are the most beautifullest things I ever sawed in my whole life!" Just then, it began to snow a little harder. Sophie giggled and plopped down onto her back, sinking into the soft, fluffy snow. "Starsies, starsies, everywhere!" She giggled.

"Come on, kids!" Didi suddenly called from the house. "It's time to come in, now!"

Sophie sat up with a start. "Come in?" She cried, sadly.

"It's getting pretty cold right now," added Diid, ushering the babies inside as best she could. "We wouldn't want you turning into frozen popsicles!"

The other babies ran in happily, but Sophie frowned and walked back as slowly as she could. She looked behind her shoulder, sadly. "Don't go anywheres, okay, snow?" She whispered.

Back inside the warm and toasty house, the babies sat around drinking hot chocolate from little plastic cups. They enjoyed this part of colder weather, too.

"Oh, you guys, snow is my most _favorites_t thing ever!" Sophie said, licking her lips after she tasted the hot chocolate. "Mmm! We gets to play outside with really pretty stars...and we gets chocolate that's warm in our tummies, too! Snow is great!"

"We tolded you," Lil said. "It's one of the bestest things there is!"

From the doorway, Angelica was playing with Cynthia, and chuckled. She had opted out of playing outside in the snow. She had better things to do with her time than play with a bunch of stinky babies. She had chuckled because she was devising yet another plan to make their lives miserable. She just had to wait until she could put her plan into action.

"Yeah! I hope it stays forever and ever!" Sophie said, taking another big sip of her drink. "Then we could play with the snow every single day!"

Later that night, Sophiewas too excited to sleep. She lay in her crib, making Sprinkles do a dance on her stomach as she sang. "Snowy, snowy everywhere! I loves the snow...even when it's in my hair!" She stood up and glanced at Tommy and Dil, who were still sleeping. "Oh, I wish she sun would hurry up and wake up! I wanna see more snow!" She sighed and layed back down in the bed. She closed her eyes and put her thumb in her mouth. "Snow, snow, it's my friend," she yawned. "I hope the snow will never end!"

In her dream, she and Tommy were giggling as they played in the high snow piles, throwing snow balls and jumping around, hearing the loud crunching sounds under their feet. Sophie imagined that all the snowflakes falling were huge soft stars as they fell around them, and at one point, she jumped up high in the air, holding Tommy's hand. They grabbed onto a snowflake and giggled as the wind blew them around the yard, then it gently came down to the ground, and they both jumped off and landed right into a huge snowpile.

The next morning, Tommy was up first, and he ran to her crib and unlatched the hook. He had wagered Sophie would be just as excited as she was the previous day, and he wanted to make sure she had as much time as she could to be outside. "Sophie! Wake up! We gotsta go outside again!"

Sophie woke up with a start. "Yay! Let's go! I had the most bestest dream about the snow, Tommy! I can't wait to play outside, again!"

Sophie and Tommy giggled as Stu pulled them around on a tiny wooden sled around the yard. Tommy showed Sophie how to make snow angels, and Stu helped them build a snowman. Sophie was having the best time she'd ever had. She was so happy, she thought she would burst into a million tiny snowflakes.

"Hi, everybody!" Chas called, waving as he, Chuckie, Kimi, Phil and Lil came walking into the backyard.

"Hiya, Chas. Hi, kids. Ready for some more snow fun?" Stu asked, and the babies giggled.

Across the yard, Stu and Chas began to build an igloo for the babies.

On the other side of the yard, Sophie was still as excited as could be. especially now that her friends were there. "I dunno what I did in my life without snow, you guys! It's my new bestest friend!" She said, picking up a ball of snow in her hand and kissing it.

"_Hey_!" Kimi said, crossing her arms over her chest and frowning.

Sophie giggled. "But, not as bestest as _you_, Kimi," Sophie said, giggling and hugging Kimi as tight as she could.

Kimi giggled also. "Then let's play in the snow every single day!"

The babies giggled in agreement, but noticed that a cloud had moved away from the sun, and it shone brightly. Sophie stopped laughing and gasped as she saw the snowball in her hand begin to drip as the heat from the sun warmed it. This was something she wasn't expecting.

"Wh...what's happening, you guys? My snowyball is crying!" Sophie gasped, also about to cry at the state of her snowball.

"Aw, don't worry, Sophie," said Tommy. "Sometimes when the sun gets too hot, the snow will go away a little."

Sophie gasped again. "Go away? But...but..."

"But, don't worry," Phil said. "It always comes back after it goes away."

Angelica appeared behind them, laughing. This was her big chance, and she wasn't going to waste it. "Shows how much _you_ dumb babies know...which is _nothing_!"

"What do you mean, Angelica?" Chuckie asked.

"I mean...that this snow is different snow," Angelica said, bending down and patting the mushy snow under her feet.

"Different snow?" Sophie asked.

"That's right, Blondie. This snow isn't your regular old everyday snow. I hearded on the T.B, that this is the very lastest snow we're ever gonna have forever and ever!" Angelica said, with a glint in her eye.

The babies gasped. Sophie gasped the loudest, and her eyes really did fill with tears this time.

"You mean, we're never gonna have snow again?" Sophie cried, wiping her tears with the back of her already wet mitten.

"That's not true, Angelica!" Tommy said, frowning upon seeing Sophie's tears. "The snow always comes back when it goes away!"

"Oh yeah? Well, did any of you dumb babies notice that this snow is more softer, and more fluffy, and more colder than the normal snows we used to have?" Angelica asked, crossing her arms over her shoulders.

Phil and Lil considered that, and they both gasped. Angelica never had a hard time reeling them in.

"Hey, you know, my daddy said the same thing!" Phil said. "He and mommy said the snow was really fluffy, this time. Like they had never seed 'afore."

"That's 'acause they wanted to make the very last snow ever to be the bestest snow, 'acourse," said Angelica. "They wanted to make sure it was the most bestest we could ever have...since it's never gonna come again for the rest of our lives! It's gonna all melt away."

Sophie gasped and fell to her knees, frantically trying to scoop up the mushy snow into her hands. "Oh, please, snow! _Please_! You just _can't_ melt! You're the onliesnt snow I ever sawed, and I love you!"

Angelica chuckled. "Well, it was good while it lasted, hey, Blondie?" Angelica skipped away, singing a cheery song, happy to have made at least one of the babies cry.

"We're really sorry this is the lastest snow you're ever gonna see, Sophie," Chuckie said. "Maybe we can plays with it really a long time 'afore it goes bye-bye."

Sophie stood up, quickly, suddenly determined. "No, you guys! We gotsta save it! There must be somewhere we can puts it so it doesn't go away!"

The babies thought for a moment about a good place to store snow, but it proved to be more of a difficult task then they'd imagined. This stressed Sophie out even more, because she couldn't bear the thought of losing something that made her so happy. Finally, Chuckie's eyes lit up, and he gasped loudy.

"Hey, I gotta idea! What about your uncle Stu's car?" Chuckie said, enthusiastically. "We could take it..." The rest of the babies stared at him, confused. This made him blush a shade of pink, and he brushed his foot against the ground, deeply embarrassed. "Or, maybe not."

"No, Chuckie! That's a super _great_ idea!" Sophie cried, throwing her arms around him in a tight hug.

"It is?" Chuckie asked, chuckling.

Sophie smiled and put a hand to his shoulder. "It really is! Only, let's not put it _into_ the car...let's put it into the _garage_!"

"In the garage?" Lil repeated.

Sophie's eyes lit up, too. "Yeah! if we puts all the snow in the garage, the sun can't melt it away and then it can stay forever and ever, and we'll always know where it is!"

"Yeah!" The other babies cheered, loudly.

They were all really excited for their new plan, and they couldn't wait to get started on making it a reality.

"But, how can we get the snow there?" Kimi asked. "There's really lots of it."

"Uh..I know! We can use my wagon!" Tommy said, pointing to the red wagon nearby. "And we can use the buckets from the sandbox, too!"

Phil clapped her hands. "All right! We're gonna have snows all year long!"

The babies took their shovels and pails and started shoveling the snow into the red wagon until it was piled high. They were all so excited, they could barely stand it. Tommy and Sophie pulled the wagon from the front, and Chuckie and Kimi pushed from behind. Phil and Lil carried two buckets of snow in each hand as they struggled to get the wagon across the side of the yard to the garage. Luckily, the garage door was open. Inside, they saw the car, but more importantly, they saw all the free space which could be used in their snow storage.

"Oh, Aunt Didi and Uncle Stu are gonna be so happy we saved the snow," Sophie said, giggling, as they emptied the wagon and the buckets of snow beside the car.

"Yeah, I bet ya they'll even gives us ice cream! Come on, let's get the rest of it!" Tommy cried, and they raced back to the backyard.

Stu and Chas were completely oblivious to the babies' hard work. The two men still tried to construct the perfect igloo for the kids, and never notcied as they loaded wagon load and buckets full of snow from the backyard to the garage. After awhile, the babies had made a large dent in the snow piles around the yard, where it was obvious they had been digging.

Kimi glanced up at the sun, then down at the top of a new snow pile they had in the wagon. It was dripping more, now. "We gotsta hurry, you guys! The sun is too hot, and the snow is still melting really fast!"

They rushed to the garage again, and dumped the last bucket inside. Snow was falling out of the full garage, and the car was completely covered with snow. There wasn't an inch of the entire garage that wasn't buried under the snow.

"Yay, ee did it, you guys!" Sophie giggled, and hugged Kimi happily. "Now we'll have snow forever and ever! We got so much snow here, we'll never run out!"

Angelica skipped up behind them, and gaped at the garage. "Wow! Did you babies do all this?"

"Yeah! We wanted to save some snow after the sun takes it all away," said Tommy, happily.

"And now, we can!" Chuckie cried, grinning. "It was Sophie's idea to put the snow in the garage!"

Angelica smiled and put a hand on Sophie's shoulder. "I gotta hand it to you, Blondie. This sure was a good idea. Even I gotta admit that."

"Wow, thanks Angelica!" Sophie said, both touched and shocked at such a compliment from one who wasn't known to give them...especially to babies .

"There's just _one_ little problem," Angelica said, slowly.

"What's that Angelica?" Phil and Lil asked.

Angelica chuckled and cupped her hands over her mouth. "Mister Finster! Uncle Stu! Come look what the babies did!"

The babies gasped in horror as Stu and Chas raced to the front of the house in a flash.

"Oh, no!" Stu cried, his mouth dropping. "My garage!"

"Don't worry, Stu. I've got a heat blaster you can use that'll melt that snow right outta there," Chas said. "That'll keep it out forever."

The babies frowned 10 minutes later as Stu used a leaf blower that shot out hot air to slowly melt the snow away. Sophie was the most distressed and upset out of the whole bunch, and as Stu finished cleaning the garage and ushered the kids back into the backyard, she was even more sad than before. Now, the sun had really began to shine brightly, and the snow was melting just as if Stu was using the leaf blower on it, too.

Angelica chuckled and glanced around, happily. "Well, looks like the snow is all gone, Blondie. Too bad, so sad!" She squashed the snow with her shoes for good measure.

Sophie looked sadly at the puddles of water that were forming where the snow had been. "It was a good try anyways, you guys." She wiped her eyes, sadly. "At least I got to play with it for a little bit."

"We're really sorry about the snow going away," Lil said, sympathetically. "Maybe we can just pretend the rain is snow, sometimes. That could be fun!"

Sophie smiled sadly. "Maybe."

"Now, let's get going, you two," Chas said quickly to his children. "I think we did enough damage for one day."

As Chas, Chuckie, and Kimi left, Didi opened the front door and smiled at the kids as they looked at the melting snow. "Come inside, everyone. I've got hot cocoa with marshmallows for you."

The babies trudged inside, and sadly took one last look at the clumps of snow on the grass.

Inside, the TV was on the weather channel. A woman's voice came out as she read from a paper. "...expected to be three inches higher than today, so better dress warmly, and don't forget to..."

The babies were all too upset to listen to a word the woman said, as they drank their hot chocolate in a quiet, sad, silence.

That night, Sophie had the same dream as before, only this time, when she and Tommy tried to jump into the soft piles of snow, it turned into water before they could jump into it. Instead of huge snowflakes, huge raindrops fell, and Tommy and Sophie ran for cover from them with their arms covering their heads.

In the morning, Didi smiled as she woke Sophie up. Tommy was in her arms already. "Good morning, sleepyhead," Didi said, smiling and picking her up too. "I hope you had good dreams."

Sophie looked at Tommy sadly. He could already tell that she didn't. They walked downstairs just as Stu came back from outside. Tommy and Sophie gasped when they saw him wiping the snow from his jacket. He was covered in it! They both ran to the living room and looked out the window in surprise.

"Oh my goodness, Tommy!" Sophie gasped, putting her hands on her cheeks. "It's...it's..."

"_Snow_!" They both cried, and grabbed arms and jumped up and down together.

"Even more than before!" Tommy cried.

And he was right. The snow seemed higher, softer, and whiter than they had ever seen it.

"Angelica must have been wrong," Tommy said. "The snow isn't goned forever! It came back!"

Betty knocked on the door and opened it, pulling Phil, Lil, Chuckie and Kimi inside the house. "Whew! I've never seen that much snow at one time before!"

The babies giggled as Didi came in with Sophie and Tommy's snow clothes. "I know! I heard it on the radio this morning. They expect the snow to last longer than anyone expected. I guess we'll be playing in the snow every day for the rest of our lives!"

When they were all dressed, the babies ran outside together, more excited than ever, especially now that htey knew the snow was going to last for quite a long time. Sophie giggled the loudest as she scooped up a huge ball of snow in both of her hands. She kissed it happily, then threw it up high into the air. It landed on her head with a thump, and she giggled and slumped backwards again, sinking deeper in the soft snow as the snowflakes fell around her head. She knew she would remember this day for a really, really long time.


End file.
